Looking for a bucolic existence in uneventful BG? Think again...

I'm not sure Sofia is the place anyone looking for a bucolic existence would consider!

@janemulberry

Maybe you missed the Kapitan Andreevo connection? 😎 One wonders just what the Keystone Cops-style security guards busily trying to scatter hi-tech surveillance equipment in the verdant pastures thought they were achieving, and what the villagers made of the fleet of blacked-out government SUVs that descended on their lazy hamlet..  BG villages make Midsomer look like a picture of tranquility*!

For your delectation, the key players so far identified in this Whodunnit are: Razmig Chakaryan (aka "Ami") and by extension, other members of the supposedly-disbanded Taki underworld network; former investigator Petyo Petrov (aka "Petyo Euroto ("The Euro)") who was the central figure in the "Eight Dwarfs" judicial corruption scandal and who was mysteriously tipped off and disappeared from the very same Dragalevtsi restaurant, presumably via the newly-discovered system of tunnels. "The Euro" appears to still have considerable clout with the judges: despite absconding into tin air several years ago, his in absentia conviction was recently quashed and his European Arrest Warrant was cancelled by a Sofia court, only to be reinstated a couple of days later. The latest reports indicate that Prosecutors have known his whereabouts (in a neighbouring country) for several years but forgot to mention this trifling fact

The quiet village of Kapitan Andreevo was the location where the Taki network operated the infamous "Golden Laboratory" (offering bogus pesticide testing on imported Turkish produce) and "The Golden Puddle" (in which a private company was mysteriously awarded the recurring annual contract to disinfect all trucks entering the country from Turkey two days after it was set up, and with no personnel or equipment for the task).  These scams went "undetected" for years, and of course none of the villagers noticed any testing/disinfecting activity since there wasn't any.

Of course, BG isn't alone in the sphere of Inventive Entrepreneurship: I'm sure you're aware of the "Pineapple Plantations on Mount Olympus", "The Undersea Goat Farms" and the "Olive Groves planted on military runways" in Greece, all attracting generous EU subsidies..😎

Oops, yes, I did miss that! What a charming village it sounds, with such interesting connections...

You seem to specialise in finding stories that make Midsomer look calm and peaceful!

@janemulberry

I read the local media and watch the news on the boob-tube - Bulgaria (and Greece) supply all the crazy details.  Talking of which, do you remember the case of Zakynthos (aka "The Island of The Blind") some time ago, where a local doctor was registering anyone who produced a "fakelaki", or voted for the "correct" local politician, as blind, and thereby eligible for disability benefits?  Even the local taxi-drivers were blind, which could actually be true given how they drive..

Believe me, there's plenty more I could go on about! 😁

LOL! I've lived long enough that nothing surprises me now!